


King of Diamonds, King of Hearts

by Lady_Nuwanda



Category: House of Cards (US TV), The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017)
Genre: CharacterXCharacter Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 23:23:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20714267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Nuwanda/pseuds/Lady_Nuwanda
Summary: This is a blurb that got a little out of control, and turned out longer than it should. It's just that every time I see a Jim/Duncan story, they have a somewhat toxic dynamic between them, so I wanted to give this pair a healthy relationship for a change... our boys looking after each other.





	King of Diamonds, King of Hearts

When Duncan Shepherd met James Mason, Jim had just left College and gotten an internship at the Shepherd Freedom Foundation. Duncan was so impressed by the brilliant young man he had working for him. Jim was more than just efficient, he was brilliant. He had so much potential and undeniable charisma. Everyone of his co-workers simply adored him, and he was always helpful and kind to each and every one of them.

It didn’t take a lot of digging up for Duncan to find information on Jim’s relatively recent dark past. Digging up the dirt on people was kind of Duncan’s specialty after all. But when he found out about James Mason’s struggle with substance abuse, and of how he fought to stay on his feet while his family was falling apart. How he managed to survive all that, leave the life in Palos Verdes behind and start over by himself, graduate and move do DC… all those things only made Duncan admire him more. And the way Jim seemed to have a smile dancing on his lips to greet everyone, and always did his job with wide-eyed enthusiasm, after all Duncan knew he’d been through, was proof of the remarkable nature of this man, that was barely more than a boy.

Most of all, Duncan liked how, unlike everybody else in the Foundation, Jim never seemed to fear his boss. His friendly “you may call me Jim, mr. Shepherd” with a firm handshake and a bright smile on the day they had met was enough to break Duncan’s walls, and make him want to befriend the new intern, too. Little did he know this attitude was due to the fact that Jim admired Duncan, more than anyone. He was everything Jim aspired to be someday: powerful, confident, educated, classy… Jim wanted to be around Duncan as much as possible, learning everything he could from him.

Their friendship blossomed over time, and with it Duncan’s wish to make sure Jim would have every opportunity he’d ever had himself, and would fulfil his potential, becoming the great man Duncan knew he could be. As he grew to trust Jim, Duncan even dared to share the secret of where he had come from with Jim. The story of the baby that was practically bought by Annette Shepherd broke Jim’s heart. Now he could understand why Duncan had built so many walls to keep people away, and why he always seemed to feel so undeserving of his own privilege.

It’s not like any of them had never been with another man before, but their first time together felt different, somehow. Duncan was unusually gentle with Jim that night. There would be plenty of time for some hard-fucking later, but not now. Now he didn’t even care about his own pleasure, just the sweet embrace of Jim around him already felt like heaven. He wanted to fill him up, push himself into him to the brim… but slowly, gently. He’d never hurt his sweet beach-boy, he wanted to give him all the pleasure in the world. When Duncan came undone buried deep inside him, his entire body shaking in ecstasy, while Jim clenched tightly around him, Duncan felt like his heart would explode in his chest. The firm grip of Jim’s hand on his was the only thing anchoring him to the world. His always sunkissed skin, no matter how long it had been since his last visit to Palos Verdes, was flushed a delicious shade of pink and a satisfied smile was lighting up his face, his hair sticking a little to his forehead with sweat. And Duncan thought he had never seen anything more beautiful, as Jim turned around, his chest still heaving with every breath, to cup Duncan’s face in his hands and close his soft lips over his.

It had been more than five years since the big scandal that got Duncan locked up behind bars for a while. He knew damn well that his money, and good family name, were the only things that had made it possible for him to rise from the ashes, after he left prison. It was exactly the kind of privilege Duncan felt unworthy of. And that feeling was never more painfully obvious then when he had to talk to Bill, to give him the weekly report for the Foundation. Bill always had a special way of making Duncan feel like he was good for nothing. That he let Duncan run his business just because Annette had begged him to. No matter how hard Duncan tried, Bill always made sure he knew that he simply wasn’t one of them. And that, since he had already screwed up in the past, it was only a matter of time until he’d do it again.

After one particularly unpleasant phone-call with his uncle, Duncan got home and had no choice but cry the pain away in the shower. Jim had been staying at Duncan’s penthouse more often then not, these days. He was trying to figure out what he could make for dinner, when he heard something that sounded very much like sobbing coming from the bathroom. He found the door unlocked and when he opened it, Duncan was sitting on the shower floor, holding his own legs to his chest, his chin resting on his knees. Jim knew what this was about, he had seen it when Duncan was on the phone with Bill, how upset he was. And without a word he undressed and joined him in the shower.

Jim sat on the shower floor, his legs around Duncan’s body, and held the older man in his arms in the most loving way he could. Duncan relaxed a little inside Jim’s embrace, resting his forehead on the curve of his neck, and put his legs around Jim’s waist, holding him closer. Jim let Duncan cry freely, soothing him with gentle shushing sounds and running his fingers through Duncan’s hair and on his back. After a few moments, Duncan looked up, trying to put on a brave smile that said “I’m gonna be ok”, while Jim caressed his cheeks, wet with tears and shower water, and poured sweet kisses everywhere on his face. Jim washed his body and hair, pampering him, and even dried him up with a soft towel.

That night Duncan let Jim make love into him for the first time. Jim just wanted to make Duncan feel good, like he’d always felt when Duncan was inside him. And judging by the way he was moaning and whimpering, grabbing the sheets in his white-knuckled fists, he was. Jim was thrusting slow and gently, leaving wet kisses on Duncan’s back. The earth-shattering orgasm that hit him, was like nothing Duncan had ever felt before. The pleasure building up deep inside him and spreading all over his body, making him writhe and shake, was enough to send Jim over the edge, and he spilled himself inside Duncan at the same time, resting his forehead on Duncan’s back, both of them trying to catch their breaths.

After that night, there were no more such things as “top” and “bottom” in their relationship. No request would be denied, no pleasure was forbidden. And Duncan fell asleep resting his head on Jim’s chest, listening to the reassuring sound of his heartbeats. He dreamed of the sea, the cool salty breeze on his face, and the warm sand beneath his feet. He could almost hear the gentle song of the ocean lulling him to sleep, while Jim dozed off running his fingers through Duncan’s hair.

Together, the two of them were a powerhouse. It was them against the world, and the world better watch out. Soon Duncan was able to leave the Foundation and the Shepherd-Mason partnership was already a household name on itself. Everyone was eager to do business with the two pleasant mannered and brilliant entrepreneurs. Using his influence, Duncan made sure Jim was always around the right people, at the right places. And Jim’s natural small-town boy charms granted Duncan some friendships he would never have conquered otherwise. And they found a special pleasure in excusing themselves during events to go fuck each other fast and hard, inside the toilets of their most conservative clients.

Duncan dreamt of the day they wouldn’t have to hide the true nature of their partnership from anyone. The tides were finally turning, the Conservative wave was washing away. The retrograde days of the late 2010’s were almost over. He had managed to get away from his family’s political stance and was thinking about joining the Democratic Party. Who knew… America had already had its first black President, Claire Underwood had been the first woman to sit on that chair, maybe the time for the first queer President was nearer than everybody thought. And he knew that with Jim by his side he was unstoppable.


End file.
